keira anne with an e

Sir Bertrand is diving into the world of politics… but the walls of Parliament hold secrets and evil deeds that are going to take all of his attention to unravel.

Philippa is hard at work running a school for women in need, but an uncovered secret about a loved one threatens to change everything for her, even in impending decisions involving financing… and matters of her heart.

Their two cases may coincide before they reach their resolutions… but can their combined wits save the day?

Disclaimers: as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. A special thanks to Kregel Publishing for sending me a complimentary copy of this book. I was not required to leave a positive review.

⭐⭐⭐ (3/5 stars)

After enjoying the first book in this series, I was super excited to be given an opportunity to read this sequel. And it was definitely gripping. I really was excited to see where this story went and how things progressed with our characters. While there were some elements I wasn’t a huge fan of, I did overall enjoy this story. I do really love how this author makes all her books connect to add this immersive feeling to these stories.

I did feel quite bad for Bertrand as he was navigating political waters for the first time. To be honest, I really think that this was very much outside his comfort zone, and I kind of wanted him to just call it quits because he just wasn’t enjoying it at all. Especially with the mysterious cult/club… yeah, I just really felt bad for him, and I hope he gets out of politics fast, because I don’t think this is the sphere he belongs in at all.

Philippa finds herself in an impossible situation when she learns a secret about a friend’s past, and I really felt bad for her in that situation. I was glad to be able to see our side characters connected with Eleos continuing on and doing well. That did make me feel very happy, and overall just happy with how this happened.

I will say this series truly believes in slow slow-burn, which actually fits the story very well. We continued on with each of the characters having their own story– and not really being connected to each other. I will say I’m not the biggest fan of this, but it’s very unique, and it does remind me a lot of The Thorndike and Swann series.

I really do love seeing these characters… especially Bertie. I mean, they are just the best, and I really look forward to reading the next book in the series… especially after that sequel hook at the end. It was undoubtedly the best part, and just makes me so excited to even think about! I can’t say too much, but… IT SOUNDS LIKE SO MUCH FUN!!!

I definitely wouldn’t recommend this book for younger readers. There was a lot of content throughout this book, and it just felt really dark and heavy with some of the topics discussed, especially when it came to the cult that Bertrand goes undercover to join, and the way they were capturing women, abusing them cruelly, and assaulting them…. all while keeping them drugged.

Yeah, not okay, y’all.

Anyway, because of that, I just wasn’t okay with some of this stuff, and it did affect my rating, so I wanted to make sure that I put a lot of disclaimers and content/trigger warnings for anyone who is sensitive to these topics.

This was a really interesting mystery that I enjoyed, although I had some issues with it. However, this story was just very captivating, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how they were going to figure out their various problems and difficulties. I was surprised with how a couple of things came together at the end, but overall, it definitely kept the story moving, and I can’t wait to read the third!!!

EMOJI REVIEW!

• 🔎 mysteries
• 🤫 conspiracies
• 🏛️ government
• 🥺 really tough heart-breaking topics
• 🕰️ regency time period
• 🎭 lots of spying and secrets

Thanks so much for reading (and another special thanks to Kregel Publishing!), and I can’t wait to hear if you’ve read any books from this author, and if so, if you enjoyed it!!!